


My memories – from a wrestling girl's point of view.

by Goth_Kitty



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Assault, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Major Original Character(s), Minor Character(s), Original Character(s), Post-Death in the Family, Romance, Trust, Trust Issues, knife attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-22 15:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goth_Kitty/pseuds/Goth_Kitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tara-Mali Adams remembers her time as a WWE Diva and her somewhat turbulent relationships with two of the superstars she had worked with.  Rated Teens+ due to references to knife crime/stabbing as I appreciate this might be a sensitive subject to some readers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My memories – from a wrestling girl's point of view.

**Author's Note:**

> When I initially started writing this, my character was going to be the biological daughter of The Undertaker and step-daughter of Crush – but as I was writing this, things weren't working out dates/timeline/history wise so this has formed the basis of another fanfiction that I will write and put up as and when I get around to it.
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this story. Some of the storylines I have kept the same as the WWE storylines, others I have either altered or I made up completely new storylines in order to progress my story along, and I have also slightly altered some details in relation to some of the wrestlers. So please don't get mad at me for altering things as this story in semi-AU.

Standing out on the porch of my Florida home, I contemplate just how crazy my life has been. Mind you, being the biological daughter of a WWE wrestler, being engaged to one of the biggest wrestling stars going and dating a wrestler who nearly stabbed me to death, I don't think my life would have been normal, ever, full stop. I wouldn't have it any other way though, even if it did nearly kill me at one point, because I wouldn't been where I am now. Engaged to an awesome guy and happy for the first time in a very long time.

Sorry, I appear to be waffling. I am Tara-Meli Adams. My father was Brian "Crush"Adams. My mother is Kaila Adams, a woman with strong Polynesian coonections and damned good looking woman even now. I obviously get my 'good looks' genetics from her. My "wrestling" genes I get from my father. As I spent my childhood growing up around the industry, I guess it was inevitable that I would end up being involved in the wrestling industry myself. I grew up in Hawaii and still divide my time between there and Florida. I was born January 1st 1984.

Thankfully, I didn't get a hard time at school like some people do when they have famous family members. Yes, I had to deal with some jealousy and bullying, but usually I just had to deal with unwanted attention from the sports jocks who only wanted to know me because I was considered one of the prettiest girls in school (their words, not mine) – these days I get a lot of comparisons to Nicole Scherzinger (I'm quite flattered actually as she's a very attractive woman).

I was never interested in the jocks, I was the one who hung out with the geeks and outcasts, who didn't complain at having the dark haired, dark eyed, "prettiest girl at school" choosing to hang out with them. At least they treated me normally. We would hang out at the weekends, going to the beach and surfing during the summer and hanging out at each other's homes in the winter. I enjoyed that time, life seemed so simple then.

I started my wrestling training, when I was around 16, in 2001. I'd been bugging my father for a good couple of years about wanting to train. I blame on my genetics, personally, my insistence on wanting to learn. Eventually he gave in and I started out training at the weekends and during school holidays. Again, this drew some strange, and occasionally nasty, attention from people in highschool but I had a good network of friends around me who thought it was awesome I was being allowed to do something so "cool", even more so because my father was under contract with the WWE (or WWF as it was then), joining initially as the third member of Demolition under the name of "Crush", then went on to be a 'face' and having a feud with the evil Doink the Clown. At the time when I began training, he was under contract to WCW but then was part of the WWE roster again when Mr McMahon took over both WCW and ECW.

I was only a young child when my father first took the job offer with the WWE. I think I was about 8 years old at the time. Being close to him, I would always get very upset when he went away. Maybe, in hindsight, perhaps that's why I got into the industry, as an opportunity to be around him more. Who knows?

That was part of the reason I was offered a contract to work for Vince McMahon, being the daughter of one of his stars. I was slightly put out at first when I realised I had been offered a contract because of my parentage. Mr McMahon reassured me that wasn't the only reason I had been offered a job. He said there was something about me that he had a good feeling about and that I could obviously handle myself in the ring, and he wanted to give me a chance. Even though I had only just started training and was only 16, Vince McMahon decided on this occasion to bend the rules. We agreed that I wouldn't take part in any matches until I was 18 (or earlier if I did well), meaning I would have two years of training under my belt. That suited me just fine.

I ended up becoming very good friends with Dwayne Johnson, or The Rock as the world knows him as, during my time in with the company. I think our heritage and having family in the industry meant we could relate to each other on many levels. He also has a crazy sense of humour and always manages to make me laugh. You know when you just click with someone right from the outset? That's what happened with us. It was a friendship that was to develop into a lot more, as I was to find out, but I'll get to that later, as I'm jumping ahead of myself.

While I was in training, I was initially brought in as a valet for Jeff Hardy after he had parted ways from his brother Matt and became a singles wrestler, and became part of the feud between the two brothers. I got to have some wonderful cat fights with Amy Dumas. We had a blast doing that and we really went for it when we had to scrap. We actually ended up becoming great friends as a result of having to work together and having to kick the crap out of each other every week. I've lost count of how many cuts, bruises and black eyes she gave me. I gave her several in return. It drove Vince McMahon crazy at times as he didn't particularly want the Divas knocking lumps out of each other on purpose. But I argued that the fans loved it and it got people talking about us, which could only be a good thing, as it meant the WWE was in the spotlight and being talked about.

During our time working together, Jeff and I started a relationship. I never intended to get with anyone but it just happened. Jeff and I became close as friends since I had joined the company, mainly due to us working and travelling together constantly, I guess. It was a very intense relationship. I honestly thought I loved him and I still care about him now but his drug taking got in the way. He changed towards me, started becoming aggressive. In all honesty he began to scare me.

In 2003 he was fired from the company and I moved out of the studio flat we shared and headed back home to Hawaii. At the time I thought I would be safe if I was away from him and put as many miles between us as possible. How foolish I was to think that. Jeff wasn't going to let me go that easily. My father was extremely pleased I had left Jeff and had come home. He had heard all about Jeff's drug problems and had been worried sick about me. Thankfully he'd had the sense not to tell my mother. It wouldn't have done her any good as she is a natural worrier when it comes to her family.

I had a brief stint of time off from the WWE as they didn't have any storylines for me now that Jeff had been released from his contract. I kept myself busy by working out and training at a local wrestling school, so that I wouldn't get too "rusty" for my return to the company. Vince McMahon had finally agreed to start letting me have matches but was still working on a storyline for me that would allow me to fight in the ring. There was talk of me feuding with either Lita (a continuation of our Hardy Brothers feud) or Trish Stratus which I was very excited about. Both were wonderful athletes and I had always dreamed about working with them in the ring.

I had a surprise visit from Dwayne during my time away, which I didn't expect and enjoyed. By this point Dwayne wasn't spending as much time with the company as he was going more into movies. He said he's just had this crazy urge to come to Hawaii and see me as he had heard about me splitting with Jeff Hardy and my deciding to go home for a while before returning to work. It was really nice to spend time in his company. I felt so comfortable with him and our conversations were just so easy and enjoyable. People tell me now that, at that point, they could tell Dwayne and I obviously felt something for each other and that it didn't surprise them that we eventually ended up getting together about a year later. But at the time when he visited I was just enjoying his company as a friend and getting into another relationship didn't even enter my mind as I'd only just split up with Jeff.

Apparently Jeff heard about Dwayne had visited me. I know now that Jeff had always been secretly jealous of my friendship with Dwayne and how close we were (and still are). Jeff managed to track me down to my parents' Hawaiian home and confronted me when I was home alone one day. He was blatantly high on something as he behaving erratically. I tried to calm him down and convince him to leave but he wouldn't and pulled out a knife on me. He said if he couldn't have me then nobody else would. Before I had time to react he came at me and stabbed me, several times so I'm told. I don't remember an awful lot beyond when he first arrived at the house.

The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital, attached to God knows what and feeling like Hell. Nobody else was in the room, which scared me. Surely someone would be here with me. My parents suddenly appeared from what felt like nowhere. My mother was upset but so mad at the same time because I hadn't told her I had problems with a jealous, drug addicted partner. She was even more mad at my father for knowing but not telling her.

Jeff had stabbed me repeatedly in the abdomen and left me for dead. Thankfully my parents had returned home and had found me in time, bleeding to death in the hallway, and called paramedics. I had needed emergency surgery to save my life. I had been put into a drug induced coma for a brief time in order to help me recover from what had happened to me. I had lived to tell the tale but the attack left me scarred and I am unable to have children. But at the time I was just glad to have lived through it. I spent a long time in hospital recuperating. My father had retired from wrestling at this point and visited me every day. Amy Dumas visited me when she was able, which was nice. She would sit on the bed with me and tell me all the gossip from the company.

Jeff was arrested and ended up in a secure unit, to be held there indefinitely, until the courts decided what to do with him. I still didn't feel any safer though. I spent a long time scared that he would escape and track me down again. Once I was well enough to travel, my family uprooted and moved to Florida. I missed Hawaii but the move did me good. Maybe I needed the change of scenery. Eventually, once I was well enough to cope on my own, I got my own place and moved out.

In late 2004 I made a return to the WWE. I missed it. I took to the ring on my first night to thank the fans and my colleagues for their love and support since the attack. I didn't realise how much the fans loved me until then and I wanted to show that I recognised that. From then on I began commentating along side Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. I never did the opportunity to wrestle, which makes me feel a little sad, but maybe it wasn't meant to be.

I was advised by doctors that a high impact such as wrestling wouldn't do my body any good, especially after having major story to pretty much put me back together. To be honest I'm just glad I got to still work for the company in some capacity. I have stayed in this role ever since, along with doing some interviewing and presenting. I saw Dwayne from time to time, as and when he returned to the company whenever storylines required and he had time away from one of his various movies.

In 2007, I lost my father. That was the worst point of my life. Losing him broke my heart. I am very much a family person, despite both mine and his careers keeping us away for weeks, sometimes even months at a time from the rest of the family. I was close to my father which made his death even harder to deal with. I threw myself into work once I returned after compassionate leave. I just didn't want to think about his death. Maybe it was the wrong way to go about it. Maybe I should have given myself time to grieve but I didn't. I guess I felt it was the best way to deal with it at the time. Everyone rallied around me and supported me in their way. Vickie Guerrero became a great source of support to me during this time and we have remained friends. She got me through the worst times when things became too much for me.

It was during all of this that my relationship with Dwayne started. I hadn't even thought about seeing anyone else after the mess that was my relationship with Jeff Hardy. It all started when I had taken a few days off after my father's funeral to sort out his estate and belongings. My mother and I had been kind of putting it all off, probably not wanting to face up to the fact that he was gone. I had ended up crashing at Dwayne's home in Miami. I just needed to get out of Tampa for a while and, after a long telephone conversation late one night, he took the time to drive up from the coast to get me. My mother practically threw me out the door, encouraging me to go and stay with my friend for a few days. She felt a stay in Miami would "do me good", which in hindsight, it did. She later admitted that she always knew Dwayne and I were meant to be together and all she did was give us a push in the right direction. You would've let him completely bypass you if I hadn't stepped in she told me.

As we headed back to Miami, it was like we hadn't spent any time apart and that easiness I felt around him came right back. I couldn't help but notice he'd gotten a lot better looking as he'd gotten older. I shook myself, thinking I ought not to be thinking like that. He is a friend, it's not like that between us, I kept trying to convince myself. And for a brief time it did almost worked.

It was on the third day of my stay when it happened. We were taking a walk along the beach late that evening as I felt restless and knew I wouldn't be able to sleep all the time I felt like that, so figured a walk might help. Beach walks had always helped settle me back in Hawaii whenever I'd needed a time out. That's when he finally mustered up the courage to tell me how he felt; that he's been in love with me for longer than he could remember, but he had kept it to himself as I had been in a relationship with Jeff Hardy at the time. I was momentarily speechless, even more so when pulled me in for a kiss. Dwayne had spent all that time knowing how he felt about me yet hadn't said a word or dropped any kind of hint. I'd been clueless about it.

I never did return to Tampa, but instead I sold up my apartment and moved in with Dwayne. Yes some people might think it was a snap decision but considering I had known him for over six years at that point in time, it just felt right and I wanted to grab this chance with both hands and go for it. I felt nervous about our first time together. I felt self conscious about my abdomen scars and didn't know how he would feel about them. I was convinced he would be repulsed. He wasn't. Dwayne promised he wouldn't push me if I wasn't comfortable with being naked around him immediately and allowed me the time to build up my confidence. Our first time together was wonderful and romantic – yes, okay, I'm getting all mushy now.

We had been together for nearly four years when, of course, the powers that be in the WWE wanted to incorporate that into the weekly storylines. I was very hesitant about it. I'd already had one relationship played out on screen that had nearly killed me and I didn't want to end up in another bad situation. Because of this we had deliberately kept our relationship low key. Dwayne was supportive and I trusted him and I eventually agreed. Although I wasn't ever physically involved, I got written into the Rock/John Cena feud that started in 2011, which was fun. I was back doing something I enjoyed. It started off with John Cena purposely being insulting to me week after week. This went on for a while until he ended up getting a good kick in the pants by my man.

Wrestlemania 28 was wonderful and, a welcome break from commentating for me, as I was at ringside. By this time, everyone knew we were officially an item. What surprised me was when Dwayne proposed to me in the ring right after the match. I had a serious "OMG!" moment when that happened. Hell yeah did I accept!

The fans loved it. I had so many letters from them saying how happy they were for me that I had found someone that obviously really loved me; that I deserved to be happy again after all the crap with Jeff and also losing my father. Okay, I got a few bits of "hate mail" from crazy obsessed Rock fans who didn't like me being with him, but we all get the crazies from time to time. Generally it's save to just ignore them and leave them to their hate.

So, yes, here I am. Engaged and so happy I could burst.


End file.
